Introduced in Apocrypha, are rifts in space that connect two locations. Like stargates, they allow the travel of ships from one system to another. Unlike stargates, wormholes are not permanent. They connect two systems for only a short time and collapse when either their lifespan ends or too much mass has passed through them. Wormholes can connect any two systems regardless of distance from each other, providing temporary shortcuts to areas that would otherwise take many jumps to reach. Wormholes can also connect to uncharted space, or the Anoikis galaxy (henceforth referred to as Wormhole Space or W-Space). These systems are uncharted, and do not operate like normal systems. In Rhea, new types of wormholes were introduced - the massive wormhole system with stations, Thera, and Shattered Wormholes, mysterious spaces which cannot have any residents.

Known Space to Wormhole Space Wormholes

These connect K-Space to W-Space. Players that do exploration use them to access W-Space to run cosmic anomalies and signatures. W-Space inhabitants use them to shop, resupply, sell loot and products and go on K-Space PvP roams. Without these wormholes, W-Space would be a desolate wasteland. Components required to build Strategic Cruisers and their subsystems are available only in W-space.

Wormhole Space to Wormhole Space Wormholes

Since there are no gates available in W-Space systems these wormholes provide the sole means of interstellar transport. Their dynamic formation and dissolution define W-Space interactions, in the form of PvE - capsuleers killing sleeper rats or PvP - capsuleers killing each other. W-Space to W-Space wormholes are very crucial; there are some W-Space systems that rarely get connections to K-Space.

Wormhole Local

There is no automatic update to the “local” chat channel when in w-space, so pilots in w-space will not automatically appear in the local member list like they would in an Empire or a 0.0 space system. This means that there is no indication of who or how many other pilots are in the same w-space system you are in. With a cloak, no one will even know you’re there. If you do type in local chat you will show up in the local member list as normal. It is not advisable to chat in local while in w-space as it reveals your presence in the system.

Note that when you enter a wormhole, there is a visible brightening to indicate that the hole has been activated - so if someone is watching a wormhole, they will know that someone has jumped in.

Wormhole Identification

The color of a wormhole may give you an impression on where it leads. The outline will be the color of your current system and the center will be colored based on where it leads. The color also changes based on the size of the wormhole. See Visually Identifying Wormholes (and also below). The changes in Oceanus have changed the visual identification of the wormholes with different graphic effects.To learn about identifying wormhole types, visit the Wormhole Types page.Right clicking and showing info on the wormhole entrance will also have a description about where they lead and their stability status.

Wormhole Classification

Leading to Known SpaceWormholes leading to K-Space take the image and color of the region on the other side, as well as the size of the ship they can accommodate. A red K-Space highsec or lowsec wormhole will most likely take you to Metropolis or Heimatar(Minmatar Space).

Leading to Wormhole SpaceWormholes leading to W-Space take the image and color of the class of W-Space system on the other side. A white W-Space wormhole will take you to a Class 3 W-Space system.

Leading to Shattered WormholesWormholes leading to Shattered W-Space take the image and color of the class of W-Space system on the other side.

PolarizationJumping through wormholes introduce additional restrictions on how often in a given time a pilot may jump through a particular wormhole. You may not jump through a wormhole in the same direction twice within five minutes. For example, if you jump through a wormhole at 05:00 and then jump back through the wormhole at 05:03, you will be polarized until 05:05, five minutes after your last transit in that direction. When polarized the wormhole will prevent you from jumping through, and present you with a message informing you how much time is left on your polarization timer. Similarly, if you were to jump as soon as the timer was up, you would be polarized on the other side of the hole until 05:08, five minutes after your last transit in that direction.

One way to manage your polarization timer is to check local chat for time stamps (multiple wormhole jump time stamps are kept in the chat, unlike gate jumps in k-space) for your jumps and then plan accordingly.Keep in mind that this restriction applies to the pilot, not the ship or the account. The same ship can be swapped by ejection and boarding by different capsuleers for immediate transit through the same wormhole. This is very useful for mass reduction operations without need for multiple ships of same type. This is, however, a somewhat more dangerous way to roll a wormhole, as multiple pilots jumping from ship to ship are at least momentarily extremely vulnerable.

Aggression

Aggression timers do not apply in wormholes. You still get them when you aggress capsuleers or Sleepers, but they don't have any effect. As long as you are not polarized you can jump through a wormhole immediately after aggressing any capsuleer in any manner. There is no CONCORD in W-Space, no stargate sentry guns, and no stations. For this reason many battles in W-Space take place very near wormholes. This can provide escape options even if you are webbed, scrammed, or bubbled.

Wormhole Text

When on grid with a wormhole entrance, right click on the entrance and click on show info. This will give you information about the wormhole. There are 4 sentences in the information.System Type

The first sentence talks about the type of the wormhole. These will be of the following format:This wormhole seems to lead into {important part} parts of space.

If the wormhole is named (anything other than K162) you can look up the location using Siggy. You can also identify the size of ships allowed by its color.If the wormhole is a K162, you can tell what type of system it leads to by color.

Life

The next sentence indicates how much life the wormhole has before it collapses. Show Info on the wormhole will list one of the following:

This wormhole has not yet begun its natural cycle of decay and should last at least another dayThis wormhole is beginning to decay, and probably won't last another dayThis wormhole is reaching the end of its natural lifetimeThis wormhole is on the verge of dissipating into the ether

Mass

The third sentence tells you how much mass has passed through the wormhole:

This wormhole has not yet had its stability significantly disrupted by ships passing through itThis wormhole has had its stability reduced by ships passing through it, but not to a critical degree yetThis wormhole has had its stability critically disrupted by the mass of numerous ships passing through and is on the verge of collapse

Ship Size

The last sentence tells you the size of ships that are allowed into the enter the wormhole.